Finance committee hears petition for town council charter and Boynton Lane road article

Curtis Barnes, a citizen petitioner, presented two citizen warrant articles to the Finance Committee on Jan. 27: one proposing a change to a town council form of government and a second seeking to convert Boynton Lane from a private road to a public way for safety and maintenance reasons.

On the town council proposal, Barnes said the study committee produced a draft charter (about 80 pages) and submitted an outline to the committee but that an initial filing oversight meant the full charter text was not posted with the warrant. Barnes said he did not want to withdraw the petition and preferred that the committee take no action so the petitioners could refile next year with the charter properly posted.

A committee member identified in the record as Mr. Giorgio advised the absence of the full charter text from the warrant is not necessarily a fatal legal defect but will make town meeting discussion and a vote difficult; he recommended that any motion be precise and noted two formal revision pathways: a home rule petition or election of a charter commission. Several members agreed that "no action" at town meeting would preserve the petitioners' ability to return with the full text, while others said further study could confuse voters because a study committee had already worked on the issue.

Barnes then described the Boynton Lane petition: Boynton Lane is a privately owned, non-through road that serves several housing units (including apartments built for hospital staff), a food pantry and a bus stop. Barnes said the road is not plowed or repaired, creating safety concerns for residents and pantry users. Town administration (Libby Gibson) noted in the committee materials that Boynton Lane is not on the right-of-way committee priority list and recommended voluntary maintenance by the Land Bank, building tenants or an HOA rather than town acceptance at this time.

Mr. Giorgio clarified the process to create a town public way: the select board must refer the matter to the planning board for recommendation, the select board must hold a public hearing and vote to lay out the way, and only then can town meeting accept the laid-out way. He said the article as currently filed is legally defective and suggested the committee recommend no action or appropriate referral so the petitioners can correct the filing. Committee members also suggested short-term fixes, such as asking the Land Bank to use its plow truck to keep the lane clear during snow events.

The finance committee cannot take final action on these warrant articles until after the town’s public hearing window (noted by the chair as Feb. 3); members indicated they would revisit the petitions after that process.